Disclaimer: I do not own RK.
It's been a while, I know… but here you go!
Last chapter:
He reached over and counted the cash.
Damn! No tip again. If this keeps happening I won't be able to pay the rent. Keep your temper in check Shinomori!
Unwillingly, his eyes strayed back to the storage room. He needed a new waiter outfit… maybe Tae wouldn't mind if he retrieved it himself. He took a few steps toward the door when out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Tae mouthing "Table Five. Food!"
He sighed and turned back toward the kitchen, just barely missing Kaoru step out of the storage room.
Chapter Three:
Kaoru stepped out of the room, stopping to breathe in the aroma of old fashioned Japanese cooking. She took a look around hoping to locate Tae to start her new job. This place was packed! Almost all of the tables were occupied, with only a couple of waitresses around on call.
Looking around, she waved to a young girl wearing the same outfit as herself.
"Hi, Uh… Do you know where I can find Tae?"
"Tae? In the kitchen of course…you new? I've never seen you around before. When did you start?"
"Not too long ago." she answered. The less people knew of her, the safer they stayed. Pointing vaguely in the direction of where the scent of food was wafting from, she asked "the kitchen is that way?"
"Yep. Here, while you're at it, could you take these dishes also? Thanks!"
The young girl reached over to a nearby table and handed over to Kaoru what seemed to be plates that were stacked up well above her head. To Kaoru, they barely reached her eyes, hindering parts of her vision as she took wobbly steps toward the kitchen.
Taking unsteady steps, Kaoru concentrated fully on keeping the plates from falling and crashing to the floor, and missed seeing the table on her right. Even though her hip only clipped a corner of the table, it was enough to throw her balance off, and almost in slow motion, the plates started to precariously lean to the side ready to fall. Kaoru furiously tried to get the plates under control to no avail. Expecting the entire thing to crash to the floor any second, she braced herself and shut her eyes.
A few seconds had passed, and she failed to hear the sound of shattering glass. Confused, she slowly opened her eyes to see a pair of piercing dark blue orbs staring at her. Time seemed to stand still as Kaoru's breath caught in her throat in a half gasp. Those eyes… they were too sharp, too all-seeing as if they could see to her very core. Those were eyes of a killer. Just like Battousai's. Kaoru's face drained of all color, and with extreme willpower, overcame the urge to just drop the plates and run the other way.
Did he find me already? Impossible!
Kaoru frantically looked around to locate all the possible exits and any possible weapons to use against this man. She was not willing to go anywhere without a fight to the death. He reached out his hands and her eyes locating a fork on a nearby table, she figured she could stab it in his arm before they could reach out and grab her. But to her surprise, his hands stopped short of her and merely steadied the pile of plates which were still teetering dangerously to the side.
He gave her an annoyed glance.
"Great, another one who thinks she can lift more than her own body weight. Misao causes enough trouble to keep me on my toes. I won't be here next time to help you, and then all the broken dishes will come out of your pay." The man with the ice blue eyes grabbed half of her plates and placed them on top of his stack.
Gaping, Kaoru just gaped at his hastily retreating back.
What in the world just happened?
"Hurry up! No time to just idle around!" barked the mysterious man.
Kaoru, startled out of her stupor hurried to the kitchen with half of the plates she had started with in hand.
Her eyes… were Aoshi's first thought. It isn't often that you see other Japanese people with blue eyes. But what initially was surprise as the color, turned into confusion at her reaction to him. He had seen her literally freeze with fear and then… anger. Such anger. He reached out to help with the plates almost instinctively as he did to Misao once or twice a week, but faltered ever so slightly when he saw her eyes dart to the fork on the table.
Resisting raising his eyebrows in question at her behavior, he quickly grabbed the plates and walked away. What was wrong with that girl? He recognized the look she gave him. Like he was a monster that was going to eat at her soul. Many of his victims looked at him like that before their imminent death.
She wasn't so off in her thinking Aoshi thought darkly. That's what he was. A monster.
But that was in his past and he was eager to leave that behind.
Setting the plates down aside a massive amount of other dirty plates, Kaoru was saved the trouble of finding Tae.
"Miss! Over here!"
"Tae!" Breathing a sigh of relief, Kaoru made her way over to Tae's side.
"You're ice cold! What happened?! Drink this. It's miso soup. Should put some of the warmth back into you."
Gratefully, she accepted the bowl and greedily gulped it down. Tae turned to her offering her a bowl of salad to go along with the soup. Kaoru shook her head, needing to ask Tae about the man she just encountered.
"Tae… I just met a man who I think works for you. His eyes, they were… were… blue." she finished lamely. She couldn't seem to describe to Tae about him without remembering the fear that rippled through her when she first met him.
"Ah. Aoshi. Quite a mysterious fellow. "
"Mysterious?"
"Yeah. Popped out of nowhere one day asking if I needed an extra worker. Works hard, but doesn't say much." Tae's eyes lighted up. Her matchmaking skills were second to none and from what she had seen in the dining area, she could see something between them. Tae asked slyly, "Why are you so interested? See anything you like? I'll admit he's quite a handsome fellow."
Kaoru vehemently shook her head. "No! I just. He. Of course not."
Tae smirked, "Uh huh. I'll make sure to introduce you two soon. But I'd have to warn that you have some competition."
"What?! No! I just want to know things like who he hangs around with outside the Akabeko. Like do you know what his last job was?" She wondered if he could possibly be a threat.
"And why would that be any interest to you?" Kaoru gasped at the silky baritone voice right behind her. It was him!
"I don't know why I'd be obliged to tell you anything about myself if I don't even know you name."
"It's Kaoru." Shit! She didn't mean for her to disclose her real name, but she ended up blurting it out.
"Kaoru." He rolled her name around in his mouth, trying to place the name. He was certain he had heard the name before, but dismissed it as a common enough Japanese name. "I'm Aoshi." He turned to Tae. "Is this what you've been hiding in the storage room?"
Tae nodded dumbly. This was more words than she had ever heard him utter.
"Well then I'm going to go grab a new uniform." With that, he turned on his heel and again, walked away.
Kaoru huffed. "Is he usually this rude? He might be bad to your business Tae if he's like this to your customers."
"He's actually brings in the most business. Mostly females of course." Shaking her head of the shock, Tae clapped her hands together in glee. There were definite possibilities between the two. They just didn't know it yet. The sparks are bound to fly!
"Well Kaoru, ready to start working? We're pretty busy today, can you handle it?"
"Sure, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm to do. "
Aoshi returned in a clean uniform, meaning to pass through the kitchen to the other side of the restaurant but on his way, Tae stopped him with a sparkle in her eye.
"Aoshi. Kaoru's going to be under your wing. Teach her to be a waitress. She'll be your shadow just for today and start tomorrow. Is that okay with both of you?"
Kaoru fought to not show her displeasure at working the man, and plastered a smile on her face. "Just lovely."
Aoshi however did not miss the look of distaste that ran through her. This is going to be a very long day.
AN: I thought I would never write again, and it's been forever, but I kept thinking back to your lovely reviews and I just had to update this story. I'm probably not going to continue the others since I didn't like the way they came out or written but this one I really enjoy, and have so many ideas for!
I've made the chapter longer than usual because of the long hiatus but it's still much shorter than I'd like.
But review! Because it was your reviews that made me go back to my laptop, put aside things for a few hours and write this. Writing takes me a while. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I really enjoyed reading them immensely!